Bob Wire Has a Point (It's Under His Cowboy Hat)

If you see a sweaty young guy sprinting past you downtown or on the University campus, jumping over trash cans and picnic tables and doing flips over concrete barriers or other architectural features, relax. He’s not a purse snatcher, he’s just practicing parkour.

Rusty’s latest obsession has Barb and me cringing in dread as we go online, double-checking our dental coverage and investigating the going rate for reconstructive plastic surgery. Parkour (French for “suck it, gravity”) is a cutting-edge sport that’s pretty much the same as free running (“because jogging won’t get me on MTV”), an urban athletic hipster trend that peaked when it was featured in some Sprite commercials a few years back.

The difference between parkour and free running, according to Rusty and the other traceurs (“trespassers”) who practice it, is this: Parkour is the art of getting from point A to point B as quickly and as efficiently as possible. Free running is moving in any way you feel, in a way that’s cool or looks good, but not necessarily focused on trying to get anywhere. Of course, the one thing in common between the two is that you’ll need special [more]

Bend visitor claims to be hit by minivan

After being struck by the large motorized vehicle, Gerad Byrne felt as though he was living in southern Florida.

“There’s some pain, yeah,” he said Wednesday morning, just several hours after being hit by a minivan on the streets of Bend.

Byrne, an Irishman presently living in Central Oregon, was walking Wednesday morning near the intersection of Lava Street and Franklin Avenue when the incident occurred. According to Byrne, a turquoise-colored minivan driven by a woman with black hair and who had a crazed looked in her eye struck him while he attempted to cross the street.  Oddly enough, the event occurred approximately 48 hours after Bend was named the second friendliest city for pedestrians in Oregon.

“It happened so quick, ya know,” Byrne said of being hit by the vehicle.

Bob Wire Has a Point (It's Under His Cowboy Hat)

I love art. You love art. John loves art. We all love art. But a vehicle’s license plate is no place for art. That’s what I’ve been bitching about for years in Montana, as the debate periodically bubbles up about the ever-fancier license plate design. “I want more clouds.” “I want more buffalo.” “Too much blue.” “I don’t like the slogan.” “It needs to be 3-D and have a vampire.”

Wise up, critics. Look, if you need to drive around with a Dolack displayed on your vehicle, put one on the rear window. Or paint some ducks in a tub on your hood. Or, better yet, express yourself with a clever vanity plate. How’s this one: UB6IB9. Or this: 4NIK8R. Don’t like those? Well, UPURZ2. That takes a whole lot more imagination than plopping down an extra fifty bones for a license plate that looks like something out of an Eddie Bauer catalog.

Missoula Notebook

The lot across the alley from my house is subdivided in half, with one house facing the street and another smaller one facing the alley. We were all glad when the previous resident—a woman who used to stand in the alley for half an hour at a time, trying to get her dog to come home by screaming profanity at it—moved out.

But soon after the new owner moved in, we noticed what I’m only now realizing were the early signs of naked aggression. First, much like Hitler did to the Sudetenland, our new neighbor quickly annexed the dead end of the alley between our properties as his own personal parking lot. 

Winter weather arrives to Pacific Northwest

Weather is the topic of many conversations throughout Oregon as the week begins, with massive amounts of snowfall dropping in the Cascades and wind and heavy rain blasting the coast.

“I was planning a trip to Portland to visit some friends but called it off this morning,” Randal Rosbury told me this morning outside of Newport Market. “If I had snow tires, maybe. But it sounds pretty nasty up there.”

And while there’s nothing unusual about snow dropping in the mountains at this time of year, a rare event took place during the weekend in Lincoln City. It was a tornado. And the spinning strand of energy scared the wits out of a collection of Oregonians.

Generation Recreation

The atrocious state of our industrialized food system, which is dominated by big agribusiness, is nothing new. But even for the well-educated consumer with the best of intentions, it’s much easier to shake our heads, rue the way things are and say to ourselves there’s no good alternative.  I’m doing my best not to bury my head in the sand, but there’s often a disconnect between what my stomach wants and what I know is good for my body and good for the earth.

From the Panhandle With Cate Huisman

The Sandpoint City Council hit a hot button last year when it proposed a temporary restriction on the construction of drive-through fast-food places. Council members wanted some time to consider how this kind of land use fit with the newly minted Comprehensive Plan, and the city had sprouted a drive-through Jack-in-the-Box while the plan was being cogitated over. Shortly thereafter, a corrugated metal farm shed turned up next to Highway 2 that turned out to be a drive-through convenience store.

After the ban was passed, certain members of the community vehemently voiced their disapproval, and one owner of a restaurant that had both drive-through and sit-down options posted a notice on the order counter suggesting that the city planning director go back to where he came from, inspiring some other community members to dine elsewhere.

Bob Wire Has a Point (It's Under His Cowboy Hat)

Finally, some good news about drinking and driving.

Car and Driver magazine reported that texting while driving is more dangerous than drunken driving, thanks mostly to self-absorbed teenagers and undisciplined technodorks behind the wheel. Texting and talking on cell phones while driving resulted in almost 6,000 deaths on U.S. roads last year, according to DOT officials gathered for a “distracted driving summit” last month. Although that’s only about half the number of people killed by drunk drivers, it’s an alarming—and fast-growing—statistic. And that doesn’t even include the hundreds killed while trying to dig out a warm hunk of Dunkin Donuts sausage biscuit from deep in their crotch. (As far as the five-second rule goes, that remains a grey area. So to speak.)

Alternative Energy

A Central Oregon geothermal project many years in the making continues to heat up following a recent announcement that nearly $30 million will go toward work near Newberry Crater.

Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley announced the Energy Department grants would be coming through for seven Oregon projects. An estimated $25 million will be designated to power-producing technology involving water injected into the earth and about $4.5 million on technology to locate geothermal reservoirs at Newberry, according to Wyden.

“This funding will literally help to bring Oregon’s geothermal energy potential to the surface,” Wyden stated in a released statement. “It will create and sustain jobs improving alternative energy technology to better tap into Oregon’s unique set of renewable energy resources.”

We’ve been covering this story on NewWest.Net for several years, and this is by far the biggest advancement in the project.

Rugged Stuff

Garth is back.

Last month, Garth Brooks announced that he was coming out of retirement.  When I initially heard the news, I was pleased.  Garth is the biggest country music act that I haven’t caught in a live performance.  So I figured I was going to get another chance at him.